Initiation
by Vague Notion
Summary: Tuffnut and Snotlout have recruited Hiccup for "Viking Initiation", and in the process the little Haddock learns an unfortunate lesson. Pre-movie, no pairings, info inside. Theory as to how Hiccup acquired the scar on his chin.


This was exciting to write, especially with the soundtrack blaring over my headphones in the library at my school. But I'm happy with it.

Summery: Tuffnut and Snotlout have recruited Hiccup for "Viking Initiation", and in the process the little Haddock learns an unfortunate lesson.

Warnings: Blood? I guess? Are any of you actually uncomfortable with blood on this site? Mild language. Rating it K anyway.

**Pre-movie, Oneshot, No Pairings**_**.**_For kicks, I suppose.

--x--

"Come on, _trust_ us. You know we wouldn't let you get hurt."

A laugh. "Yeah, we're looking _out_ for you, Hiccup. Now come on!"

The smallest of the three glanced hesitantly back in the direction of the village, contemplating the pros and cons of being a coward. Before he could decide, a hand hooked around his elbow and tugged him in the direction the other two were walking, farther into the forest.

"Don't be a girl," Tuffnut growled, rolling his eyes. He tugged harder, prompting Hiccup to stumble forward before catching up with their stride. Snotlout was a few yards ahead already, and the blond didn't like being left behind - especially not for Hiccup's sake.

"W-where are we going?" Hiccup inquired, trying to tug his elbow from Tuffnut's grip. "Come on, guys, tell me!"

He was met with a rude, forced '_shh!_'. Even as they caught up with Snotlout's determined pace, they didn't speak. They didn't talk, or slow down, or let go of his elbow - at least, Tuffnut didn't.

Why had he agreed to go with them? They wanted to show him something, or so they said. Something, in Snotlout's words, that was awesome.

And if they thought it was awesome, being stronger and older (thought not by a lot,) and much more Viking-like than he was, than Hiccup reasoned that he should think it was awesome too. It if meant being accepted, then he would do it. Not to mention that they had _invited_ him. He never got invited anywhere; so it was either so huge that they didn't care who they showed, or they liked him. But he wasn't about to turn down the chance to finally fit in.

The trees began to thin out, spaced farther and farther apart before finally stopping all together. Before them, stretched out running perpendicular to where the boys had stopped, a gnarly crevice in the earth dropped down about twenty feet. Carnage Canyon, blandly named after the bones and carcasses scattered everywhere, had been strictly forbade by his father. He was never allowed to go there.

"Um, guys, this is-" he started, only to be cut off by Snotlout's rough elbow to the ribs.

"Cool, right?" He said, his voice hushed despite his attempt at looking unafraid. "This is where you're gunna do it."

Hiccup stopped and finally stepped away from the two boys, who had both turned to look at him. They were smiling.

"Do what?" he asked, not wanting to hear the answer. He wanted to run right back into the forest, back to the village, and the relative safty of Gobber's shop.

"Your Viking Initiation," Tuffnut answered, as if it were the dumbest question he had ever heard. Hiccup's face drained of color.

Internally, he was met with a wall of confliction. The sound of it sent fear shooting through him, but at the same time offered some chance he desperately wanted to take: the chance to finally fit in. Make his father proud. Do _something_ that would push him out of the realm of pathetic behavior he had been in for so long.

Externally, he just looked terrified. Not wasting a moment, Snotlout and Tuffnut snagged him by either arm and dragged him up to the ledge, stopping and holding him there. He didn't fight back, just stared in panic at the drop beneath him.

There was a hastily made path, zig-zagging along into the depths of the small canyon. He could see, at the bottom, the bare skeletons of a few sheep.

"See that helmet there?" Snotlout asked, extending a stubby finger toward it.

Farther into the canyon, before a large black crevasse in the rock, Hiccup could spot the thing, glinting in the light of late afternoon. He nodded numbly.

"Good. If you go get it, and bring in back up here, then you're a Viking. Easy enough?"

Hiccup hadn't stopped nodding from when he answered the first question, and so the two older boys took the continued bob of his head as another yes. Before he could realize what he had agreed to, he was pushed over the small ledge onto the path below.

"And don't screw up again, Hiccup," one of them - probably Tuffnut - said. They were watching.

Fighting every prickled nerve telling him to run, the brunette took a shaking breath and began to inch his way down the loose-dirt path. Though he slipped several times, his boots eventually made contact with the hard dirt of the canyon floor. Straightening up, he fell very still for a long moment before Snotlout hissed from above him.

"Hurry up, loser!"

Lifting his eyes skyward, Hiccup looked longingly up at the safety of the cliff top before sighing and turning his attention back toward the helmet.

_Don't look at the sheep,_ he told himself, doing his best to imitate his father's tone. Not that that would help: he had always done the opposite of what his father told him. But he tried anyway.

The bulk of the canyon floor was empty. The crack ran from the middle of the island, at the base of the mountain, right out to the sea, where it was flooded with sea water and made a small beach. Hiccup had only seen the beach, from a ship, once before. To actually be _in_ such a forbidden place was unnerving him, but as he closed in on the helmet, the memories faded.

He was too focused on the crack in the wall. It was completely black, about the shape of a stab wound. The opening to the cave was only four feet tall, but it was about twelve feet wide; enough for a dragon to crawl in with it's wings stretched out.

His eyes never left the blackness before him as he squatted to retrieve the helmet. Even as his fingers slid out of his sleeves and hooked around one of the ram horns, he insisted on staring into the depths of the cave.

"He's actually doing it!" Tuffnut's hushed voice resonated passed him, causing Hiccup to tear his eyes from the cave and look back at them. He wanted to smile at them, and make a show of how easy it was. He wanted to look like a Viking. But as he turned his head, the horn in his grip cracked before snapping off all together, sending the metal helmet back to the ground.

The clang of metal against solid rock broke the relative silence of his mission. Hiccup snapped back around before falling very still, eyes set on the blackness. Silence took over as the echoed died away, but it was still ringing in his ears. His eyes were wide. His heart was pounding.

"Hiccup, get out of there!" Snotlout demanded, suddenly. A low rumbling had filled the air, coming from the blackness. Slowly, too shocked to respond properly, Hiccup began to back up, his fingers tightening around horn in his grip.

"Hiccup, damnit, move!"

The rumbling was louder, growing into a full-out snarl. Something shifted in the darkness, pulling toward the light. The hulking form inside the cave gave way to to glowing green eyes, looking absolutely irate. It was a look Hiccup had seen in his father's eyes when he woke him up: The dragon had been sleeping.

"Come on, let's get out of here!" Tuffnut cried. Hiccup could hear them scrambling against the rocks before their cries began to drain away. They were leaving him here.

Suddenly, reason caught up with him. Hiccup turned on his heal, sliding a bit on the rock, before bursting into a full-out sprint in the direction of the cliff-side path.

"Wait!" he shouted, hair blowing out of his eyes. A deafening roar erupted from behind him, followed by the heavy scraping of something large trying to get out of the tight cave entrance.

Hiccup bolted across the clearing of the canyon floor, vaulting over the scattered bones of sheep, and jumped as high as he could to get up onto the path. His feet hit it well enough, but the red summer dirt forced them to fly backwards, and he hit the path with a heavy thud.

Another roar drew him back to his feet. Struggling to regain the air that had been knocked out of his lungs when he fell, he ran awkwardly up the slope, pushing against the wall for support. Each sharp turn bought the dragon more time to cross the clearing, and in his haste Hiccup couldn't stop tripping.

The third turn from the top was the worst. As he attempted to pull himself around, the dirt wall gave way beneath him, and his fell clear back down to the last level, twisting his ankle awkwardly on impact. A sharp cry burst out of his mouth before he opened his eyes wide.

There, before him, snuffing through huge nostrils, was a dragon he had never seen before. It was the same color as the rock, a pale reddish brown, with so many gnarling teeth that the sight almost made the small Viking pass out. Pushing his back against the wall, the boy closed his eyes tightly and turning his head away, thoughtlessly whimpering.

The dragon was stilled. Never in it's long life had it witnessed a human do such a thing. What was that bizarre noise it was making? It was so small, it must have just been a hatchling. To the beast's great interest, the human seemed... _afraid_. He hadn't seen that quality in a Viking. Never even once.

Hiccup opened his eyes at the sound of a deep, rolling rumbling. It sounded, for just a moment, as though it were laughing. He pushed the thought from his mind. Whatever the thing was doing, it wasn't eating him and it was destracted. Taking the moment at hand, he pushed back to his feet and bolted up over the rubble of the cliff, clawing desperately at collapsing rock to get passed it as it fell.

That's when he felt it. The pinch of teeth scraping across his upper back, as the dragon hooked its fangs into the back of his bearskin fest and cut through his flesh. Hiccup belted out another scream and twisted blindly, feeling his flesh tear away from the teeth. The dragon shook him once, jarring his equilibrium, before the brunette regained it and twisted fully, bringing the horn he had been holding into the beast's left eye.

He was thrown, suddenly, clear up over the edge of the cliff. Hitting the ground hard, he felt his chin jar against the solid ground before he scrambled, dazed and terrified, to his feet.

There was a mad slurry of movement down the cliff. The dragon, shocked that such a pathetic looking thing had brought such harm, was flailing around to try and get the horn out of it's eye socket. Taking only a brief moment to acknowledge the blood running down his chin, Hiccup turned and ran.

--x--

Yeah. I only really bothered to write up until he actually _got_ the scar on his chin. But I figured the rest is history, right? So oh well.

Also, no, the dragon isn't a Nightmare. I speculate more biodiversity, and so created a new dragon. Sorry if that confused anyone.

Please Review!


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